Green Leafy Vegetables

Oliver says, "I don't want to eat any more leafs, Mom."

Boy is he in trouble.

We have green leafy vegetables coming out the ears. I've always wondered what vegetables people were talking about when they said "be sure to eat your green leafy vegetables." Then I scoffed at the list. Bok choy? Who eats bok choy?

We do.

Well, we will soon. For now its arugula, spinach, hon tsai tai, pea vine, spring salad mix. I sneak green "leafs" into everything. Cold pasta salad, hot pasta dishes, stir fry & rice, on top of veggie burgers, on pizza. Everything. I'm also sneaking shredded radish into things, too. No one seems to notice or complain.

What's on the Plate?

Photo #1
Morningstar Griller veggie burger covered in organic muenster, spring salad mix, pickles and ketchup (natch.) The best veggie burger I think I've ever made.

Pasta with Asparagus & Spring Greens (substituted in green garlic, arugula, spinach)

Photos #2-4
Boboli Pizza with muenster, basil, green garlic, spinach & steamed asparagus

(Our 9-pack of herbs from the farm is at the top of the picture. I picked the basil from the plants and popped them right onto the pizza. It was fabulous, if I do say so myself.)

What's on the Platter? (i.e. what were we listening to while cooking?)

"Walk Tall" by John Mellencamp

Everyone ate their green leafy vegetables at our house this weekend. And I didn't hear one little complaint.

Memorial Day Mealtime

What's On the Plate:
Whipped Parsnips, with Shredded Carrots & Black Radish
Grilled Veggie Burger with White Mild Cheddar & Arugula


What's On the Platter:
Happy Girl by Beth Nielsen Chapman
(click on "listen" under "Sand & Water")

Veggies

P.S. The veggies are officially gone. Except for one half of a large black radish, which I don't know what to do with. I might just throw it out to the rabbit couple who live in our backyard: Mrs. Anderson and Mrs. May, named for Oliver's preschool teachers, and their litter of baby rabbits.

I'm grateful for those rabbits, because they keep our cat Megan very entertained all day. All day she sits in the kitchen window staring at them and praying, "Holy Jesus, please let me just eat one of those ladies for lunch." So far, her prayers have gone unanswered. She's thinking of becoming an atheist. Or a Unitarian.

The end.


Here is Megan nursing a blanket, back when our master bedroom was still painted a shocking vagina color, courtesy of the previous owners of our home.

CSA So Far...

Thus far, the CSA shares have been a smashing success. I've expanded my chorus of evening meal recipes, inspired by our new vegetables & cheeses. The primary challenge is not to cook fancy meals all evening & then eat so late the pretty peas are too tired to enjoy.

Our first veggie box had sunchokes, ramps, parsnips, black radishes, spinach, spring salad mix, arugula, sorrel, asparagus & chives. Our first cheese box had white mild cheddar, muenster & bleu cheese. The coffee, which made me want to cry it is so good, was Organic Harmony Valley blend from Kickapoo Coffees. It tastes like rich, dark, chocolate-covered cherries mixed into luscious coffee. Ahhhh...

We've used most of the veggies. Here's what we've enjoyed so far:

• Sorrel & Spinach Pesto on Multi-Grain Pasta
• Raw Sliced Sunchokes (which the baby loved)
• Oven-Roasted Sunchokes (too much olive oil, too much cramping afterward)
• Vegetable Pizza with asparagus, ramps, spinach & sun-dried tomatoes (see above photo)
• Steamed Asparagus
• Creamy Sausage & Ramp Pasta (see above, with Morningstar Veggie Sausage)
• Spinach Salad with Italian Balsamic Vinagrette, Chives & Bleu Cheese (see above)
• Stir Fried Tofu & Brown Rice with Ramps, Spinach, Chives, Sorrel & Asparagus
• Cream Cheese Sandwich Spread with Chives, Black Radish, Spinach & Carrots (excellent with cucumbers & multi-grain bread or on a grilled veggie burger w/ the cheddar)
• Pizza Hut Panormous Pizza, Half Pepperoni & Half Mushroom, & Spring Salad Mix

That last one is because we are trying a new routine to get the baby to sleep through the night and I was all done in last evening. We did pizza, board games & the TV hauled up from basement storage to watch part of our first last & only American Idol episode of the season. We ended up shutting it off most of the evening & playing Sorry! to a soundtrack of baby howls. Sigh. We will get through this. We will get through this. We will get through this.

Now, it's on to the Parsnips, Arugula & Muenster - and officiating two weddings this Memorial Day weekend!

* * * * *

Huzzah!

Sunchoke Update

I was going to write that the "filthy, loathsome, stinking wind" from eating sunchokes wasn't an issue for my family until I spent the evening with us. Huh.

Sunchokes sliced and eaten raw taste like spring. Like tulip leaves or lilac blossoms covered in earth. They take some getting used to, but they are familiar somehow. I am anxious to see how they will taste when cooked. You can mash or roast them in olive oil. They're a tuber, so you treat them as you would a potato, I guess.

But after last evening, I am a little scared to try...

I am full of fresh, organic vegetables and my body is humming, full of energy and good things. This CSA thing may turn out to be a-okay.

A Crunchy, Munchy Veggie Bunchy

We are about to start our CSA, community supported agriculture share, with Harmony Valley Farm, including a twice monthly box of organic vegetables, twice monthly box of organic fruit, once a month 2.5 lb. organic cheese share & 1 lb. of fair trade coffee every two weeks. Local, green, healthy - great.

This will use about half of our monthly grocery money and I am suddenly freaking out. What was I thinking? Our first box will include ramps, sunchokes, black radishes & burdock root. I haven't heard of a single one! Some days, with my two pretty peas, it's all I can do to turn on the oven and pop in a Red Baron frozen pizza. How will I figure out a way to use these strange veggies?

I googled sunchokes & found this description, which delighted me to no end:

The inulin is not well digested by some people, leading to the misconception
that sunchokes are not edible or an assumption that they cause flatulence and
gastric pain. Gerard's Herbal, printed in 1621, quotes the English planter John
Goodyer on Jerusalem artichokes:

"which way soever they be dressed and
eaten, they stir and cause a filthy loathsome stinking wind within the body,
thereby causing the belly to be pained and tormented, and are a meat more fit
for swine than men."

So great. Not only am I going to be feeding my family nothing but weird, crunchy vegetables this summer, but they will fill my babies with a filthy loathsome stinking wind.

Sounds like a plan.